Which factor is listed as a ground for impossibility of performance?

Which factor is listed as a ground for impossibility of performance?

• A. Supervening governmental regulation
• B. Decrease in supply
• C. Buyer regret
• D. Typographical error

Answer: (A)

The key idea is that impossibility of performance happens when something changes after the contract is formed and makes fulfilling the obligation illegal or physically impossible. A government regulation that comes into effect and prohibits the very act required by the contract means the performance cannot be lawfully carried out, so the parties are discharged from their duties without breach. For example, if a law bans the sale or use of the specified goods, or stops the construction method required by the contract, no one can legally perform as promised. Why the other scenarios don’t fit as imputed impossibility: a fall in supply is a market-related hardship that can be addressed by impracticability or commercial reality, not an absolute legal barrier to performance. Buyer remorse is a change of mind, not a legal obstacle to performing the contract as agreed. A typographical error might lead to contract reformation or rescission if there was a mistake, but it doesn’t by itself make performing the contract objectively impossible.

The key idea is that impossibility of performance happens when something changes after the contract is formed and makes fulfilling the obligation illegal or physically impossible. A government regulation that comes into effect and prohibits the very act required by the contract means the performance cannot be lawfully carried out, so the parties are discharged from their duties without breach. For example, if a law bans the sale or use of the specified goods, or stops the construction method required by the contract, no one can legally perform as promised.

Why the other scenarios don’t fit as imputed impossibility: a fall in supply is a market-related hardship that can be addressed by impracticability or commercial reality, not an absolute legal barrier to performance. Buyer remorse is a change of mind, not a legal obstacle to performing the contract as agreed. A typographical error might lead to contract reformation or rescission if there was a mistake, but it doesn’t by itself make performing the contract objectively impossible.